The Story of Netrunner
Netrunner ushers in a new competitive era for yoyofriends and team yoyofriends players. The concept of this yoyo actually started around mid to late 2024. At that time we were trying to have design candidates for the 9th anniversary yoyofriends yoyo. One of the candidates is an ultra competition bimetal that focuses on power, width and stability. Traditionally, an anniversary yoyo for yoyofriends is cheaper compared to our normal releases. We would use simple design queues with a twist for easier machining. So for the overall shape, we just went with a classic V shape profile besides the SS rings. At that time, we just released our best competition budget monometal yet, the Ultracut. One of the many things we liked about that yoyo is the dimensions.
The wide width and slightly larger diameter really made hitting zoning tricks and long combos easier. So for this bimetal, we made the width and diameter the same as the Ultracut. Next is the material construction, we want to still push the design of this yoyo, experiment with new material options while making the price not super high. 7075 came to mind as we usually do 7068. 7075 has always been a material we want to try and master. We decided this project will be a great opportunity. Finally, the SS ring. This is what makes this project so special. Traditionally we use a wrapped around ring on our highest premium bimetal yoyos, examples of which are the Hummingbird, Peregrine X and tachyon. This time we want to try something new. Utilizing a hollow wrapped around stainless steel ring for the first time ever in our lineup. With all the parameters set, we made our first prototype. 
(Picture of Netrunner prototype 1)
(Picture of Netrunner prototype 1 and Ultracut)
The prototype played very well. It has hit and surpassed just about every single metric of performance we expected. The yoyo is powerful, stable and still fast. The standout is how controllable the yoyo is, especially in horizontals. The yoyo holds itself in the air slightly longer than our traditional bimetals due to the hollow stainless steel rings. Overall we saw a significant improvement in overall comp meta performance over our previous bimetal model. The manufacturer team however found some issues. The weight of the prototype was all over the place, we really want to hit a more consistent weight for production. There are also a lot of vibey prototypes and the yield was not great. The manufacturing team has decided in order to solve this, we will make some slight tweaks on the design, ensuring a better weight consistency and ring fit. We ran into another issue as the cost of making this yoyo will be really high due to its wide body and hollow ring construction. With all these problems we decided to use hypercut as our 9th anniversary yoyo and further refine this project and make it a normal release as our next top competition model. Prototype 2 was then made. 
(Picture of prototype 2)
The prototype 2 arrived and we solved all the problems above. We even increased its weight, doubling down on power. Somehow, increasing the weight slightly did not affect its speed and acceleration. We know from prototype 1 this is going to be one of the best comp yoyo in our lineup, so we made extra for yoyofriends players. James Heder and Stephen Madden switched to this model at PNWR (Pacific NorthWest Regionals). The best way to test a competition yoyo is always on the stage and this yoyo delivered big time. Both James Heder and Stephen Madden made finals with Stephen hitting a near flawless prelim and James getting 7th place in the finals for his first ever 3 min freestyle. The feedback from them was incredible. After this we greenlit this yoyo for production.
Here are the PNWR performances from Stephen Madden and James Heder using Netrunner at PNWR.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhXGQ_fHm0E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSd0ENgDmiQ
https://youtu.be/tBil3emz538?si=i1XqOQYEVsMMSCmV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKDyn4oZhXk
Recently, James Heder used Netrunner and won NER (Northeast Regional yoyo contest) 1A Finals! Further proving the competition readiness of the netrunner.
We also specially made signature colorway for our player Stephen Madden celebrating his years of contributions to team yoyofriends. 
For the naming, we decided to use Netrunner, inspired by Cyberpunk 2077 (game) or Cyberpunk Edgerunner (show). Netrunner are cyber augmented hackers, dominating cyberspace. We think using this yoyo feels like hacking in a way for contests due to its sheer capabilities.
(picture of Netrunner in Cyberpunk 2077)
Netrunner Specs
Material: 7075+SS
Weight: 65.6g ± 0.5g
Diameter: 57.96mm
Width: 50.00mm
Gap: 4.56mm
Bearing: Concave bearing
Axle: M4*8 mm
Price: 110-120USD
The Release Date Of Netrunner is May 27th 8PM EST Worldwide.
(Picture of production Netrunner) 
(Picture of Stephen Madden -Netrunner Sig colorway)